ALGONQUIN – Faced with an increasingly competitive market, District 158 officials will take steps today to stabilize its Chinese language education program by partnering with Michigan State University.

Since 2006, the university and its Confucius Institute have recruited teachers and college graduates from China, brought them stateside, and certified them to teach K-12 education in the United States.

District 158 in Huntley was one of the first in Illinois to start a Chinese language education program five years ago. But recently it has had trouble keeping teachers with the unique certification because more Illinois schools are adopting Chinese language curricula.